It was a sad day for many parents when they learned about the “suicide” of a 16-year-old boy who was part of the Philippine national football team. With that news, Police Regional Office-7 chief Debold Sinas has ordered more patrolmen to be deployed in the areas along the two bridges spanning the Mactan Channel and Kansaga Bridge. Mind you, while we are still shocked here in Cebu, I just learned that a 19-year-old, also a footballer, hanged himself in Bohol, that means two footballers took their own lives and for what reason?
Of course, without any doubt, jumping off the bridge is a quick way to end one’s life. So I called my friends who are members of the boards of football, and they told me that perhaps what is needed is a seminar or conference with the parents of kids playing football to thresh out their family differences. While these incidents involved kids playing football, I don’t think that it is the game that drives them to suicide. It has to be other problems that surround those kids.
Mind you, the Philippines is not Japan, where many suicides are committed by the young perhaps due to pressure in Japanese society. But if we are lately having some kind of mental issue with our kids, then perhaps we should look into this before it becomes bigger than it already is. I read a news report that Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has vowed to open a room at the new Cebu City Medical Center that will address mental health concerns once the facility becomes operational by next year. The mayor said mental health issues are a concern of both families and the government, adding that they should work together to prevent suicides because of depression, among others.
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I gathered that Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. last Monday ordered the filing of diplomatic protests over Chinese warships passing through Philippine waters. Sec. Locsin directed the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Office of Asia and Pacific Affairs to file the protest. As he said, “Drop the diplomatic crap; say it is ours, period; they are trespassing our waters.” Sec. Locsin also said the DFA should file a new protest in case it has already filed one over China's ships in the Sibutu Strait.
For those of you who have never been to Sibutu Island, I’ll have you know that the huge mountain that you will see by the eastern side is the island of Borneo. I was in Sibutu 20 years ago with friends and that means the Chinese warship passing through might just be using international waters. Remember, Sibutu is the last island in the Philippines and the next island you will see belongs to Malaysia.
Apparently, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that the Department of National Defense is already “getting irritated” by the series of incursions of Chinese warships in Philippine waters. He added that Beijing appeared to be “taunting” Manila by deploying their warships in Philippine territorial waters with the automatic Identification Systems turned off, and without prior notification to authorities. Sec. Lorenzana added that in February, four Chinese warships entered and sailed through the Sibutu Strait at least four times. These have been done without coordination with local authorities. So let’s find out what really is the intention of the Chinese Navy?
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Thirty-six years ago today, Sen. Benigno “Ninoy”Aquino, Jr. was assassinated in the Manila International Airport which has since been renamed the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. But a lot of things have happened since and we can safely say that while Ninoy helped remove the Marcos dictatorship, those who removed the Marcoses ended up ruling this nation, led by his wife, Cory Aquino, and later his son, Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III, who did not change the political system of this nation, which is why our politics has remained the same ugly system.
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For nearly a week, President Rodrigo Duterte was absent from the public eye and apparently the Palace issued a statement that it allowed him not just to read documents and to attend meetings but to do one of his hobbies; the president went riding on his motorcycle, proving to himself that he is in the pink of health. I’m glad that Duterte finally took that leap and rode his motorcycle, which for me is a fabulous way to spend our old age.